Plane crashes and Time Machine visitations, sadly, seem to go hand in hand. And it happens again as we go to March 5th, 1963, the night Patsy Cline's plane went down. She lost her life along with Randy Hughes, the pilot, and two other performers. One was Cowboy Copas, who had racked up 10 top ten country hits, including the 1960 #1 Alabam; the other was Hawkshaw Hawkins, who claimed 6 country top tens including a song released 3 days before the crash that went to #1- Lonesome 7-7203. The plane, flying in heavy weather that they were advised not to fly in, crashed 90 miles short of Nashville; it was Roger Miller who found the wreckage the next morning.
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So last week, Elvis made a suggestion that I found a little unworkable, so I tweaked it a bit, and we're going to have something never done before on TM- a Supernatural (no, not THAT supernatural!) guessing game, here in a bit! Also this week, the four biggest Canadian act hits in history, and why; and something that hasn't occurred on the M10 in 85 weeks! Let's get things started with the first of two new debuts (both of which that will hopefully play correctly this time)! At #10, for the third time on the M10, here's Pale Waves...
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Okay, Gene, we have a big show this week, are you ready?
I do believe so, Mr Martin! What's first?
Well here's the thing. Since this is the 666th post under the Time Machine aegis, Elvis had suggested a devil-themed post this week, but it seemed a bit thin. So I went through and found all the Martin Era 2.0 year-end listers that had some sort of supernatural character in the title.
I bet there were quite a few...
40, to be precise, but I found a way to have some fun with it. How about you introduce the three games I came up with?
Thank you, sir! So, game number one goes like this. We divided the songs into 8 supernatural character categories: Aliens, Angels, the Devil, fairy tales/comic books, God, magic, monsters, and classical mythology. Your task: Which category had the most songs?
Game number two, out of the years of the Martin Era 2.0, 1956-1977, ONE year did not have a song on the list. Guess the year. Clue, it is a very significant year in pop music.
Game number three, seven songs made the end of year top tens in their years- but only one was the #1 song of its year. Was it:
David Seville's Witch Doctor (magic)
Frankie Avalon's Venus (Myth)
Sam The Sham's Little Red Riding Hood (Fairy tale)
Norman Greenbaum's Spirit In The Sky (God)
Shocking Blue's Venus (myth)
John Denver's Thank God I'm A Country Boy (God)
or Rick Dees's Disco Duck (I gave it a narrow inclusion into magic- he did transform like a were-duck...)
Now that's three tough games- and we're not even to the Panel yet! Speaking of which...
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I am never quite sure why it is our employer sees fit to include me in these, er, shenanigans, but he has asked me to tell this six degrees tale, which went rather awry of its supposed purpose. The victim, as it were, this week is Johnny Mathis with It's Not For Me To Say, which had the unfortunate position of being the highest charting song this week on Cashbox- at #10, which is a good deal lower than it's been recently. At any rate, the first step led us from Mr Mathis to the song's arranger Don Costa, who was noted as being the man who "discovered" the singing talents of Paul Anka. This apparently was a good choice, as his song Diana is the 4th-biggest hit by any Canadian act. And here, our boss got sidetracked and decided just to let you know which three songs were ahead of Mr Anka. And they would be:
3- Seasons In The Sun, Terry Jacks
2- (Everything I Do) I Do It For You, Bryan Adams
And 1- My Heart Will Go On, Celine Dion.
I hope you have enjoyed this dissertation, and have a good evening!
Thanks, Horace, and now, let's hit the debut at #9 on the M10. This is a 3-man band from Scotland that had all adopted the fictional last name of the fictional Mafia family, the Fratellis. Their song is....
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All right, Gene, give 'em the compressed version of the Panel picks!
Yes, sir! You have five finalists this week from a list that had 17 songs from fifty-one stations! Choose from:
The End Of The World, Skeeter Davis, #15 this week;
The Four Seasons and Walk Like A Man, #2 this week;
Rhythm Of The Rain, the Cascades, at #4;
He's So Fine, the Chiffons at 51 and rocketing upwards- in fact, they are the big mover, up 38 spots from #89;
And Hey Paula by Paul and Paula, the week's number one!
And your helper this week: Here's where the Panelists fared on the year's hot 100:
Roy Orbison, In Dreams was #73
Ned Miller, From A Jack To A King, 47
The Rebels, Wild Weekend, 40
Eydie Gorme, Blame It On The Bossa Nova, 32
Bobby Darin, You're The Reason I'm Living, 28
Dion, Ruby Baby, 25
Finalist, Walk Like a Man, 18
The Rooftop Singers, Walk Right In, 17
Finalist, Hey Paula, 14
Finalist, He's So Fine, 13
Finalist, Rhythm Of The Rain, 7, and
Finalist, End Of The World, 3!
Gene, one last thing needs taken care of before the games and the Panel- other than the M10 and the surprise awaiting there- and that's on you...
I have it right here, the Overseas If You Please! The UK did NOT have an Elvis song at the top this week; rather, it was Frank Ifield bringing his yodeling tones to the song The Wayward Wind. The rest of the cast selected Panelists at their #1s- New Zealand had Walk Right In, Australia was spinnin' From A Jack To A King, and Canada chose Rhythm Of The Rain.
Good job! Now, how about you let the fans know the winners of the Supernatural Games!
Okay! So the first winner- which category had the most- it was a tie, so if you took angels or magic, you did fine with nine!
Second game- which year decided not to play along? Well, it's the year y'all be going to next week- 1964!
And Game Three, the only one that was a #1 for its year was- Spirit In The Sky! Hope you all aced the quiz!
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The remaining M10:
8- Eighth week on for Lilly Hiatt's Brightest Star, slipping one to #8...
7- Neil Young's Pocahontas slips 2 this week.
6- The Explorer's Club jumps from 10 with Don't Waste Her Time...
5- Up one spot for Royal Blood and Typhoons...
4- Crack The Sky falls one with Blowing Up Detroit...
3- Tommy James and the Shondells up one with Hold On To Him...
2- They may be stuck here for a while- Weezer and Grapes Of Wrath...
And for the first time since July 17th of 2019, we have a song make four consecutive weeks at the top, and that goes to....
Ironically, this song takes over as the longest song to hit #1 on the M10, beating out that song that spent 4 weeks on top in July 2019, ELO's Mama...
And at long last, the Panel picks...
The Chiffons and the Four Seasons got you 9.8%...
The Cascades were a little better at 11.7%...
Paul and Paula got you 13.7%...
But your winner, with 21.5%.....
....Skeeter Davis and The End Of The World!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Next week, less games, more Skeeter- and more BEATLES! 1964!
Oh how I liked this
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